To be fed up that it seems to be expected that female celebs dress risqué while men dont

[Linoleum81]

Seeing Chappell roan, Dakota Johnson , Madonna basically showing underwear and parts of the body that should be covered up. All these women are talented and successful. We don’t expect Nicolas cage or mick jagger to strut around showing their Y fronts, so why is this expected of female celebs

I think a male celebrity in a "sexy" outfit (let's say, PVC chaps and nothing else) would likely be mocked and assumed to be gay. Given that, you could argue that celebrity women have more choice about what to wear, because they can choose an elegant outfit or a sexy/fetish one.

The women are making a choice to dress like that because they're seeking male attention.
Men do prance around in butt cheek cut offs, tight pants or trousers at gay events. They to are seeking male attention.
I'm sure some women are attracted to that but most aren't. Women often like the way men look dressed in suits, or relaxed jeans and t-shirts. I have no interest in seeing butt cheeks, lacy covered balls, ect.

You mean where we hear 'who are you wearing' I say to tv when I hear it 'the local librarian* they taste nice with a decent Chianti''

• some random person

I was watching a movie the other day and the lead female character, PhD strong feminist type etc was wearing clothes that just had her cleavage on display throughout! I mean look we are in the artic and the men are all in snow suits but here I am in a tank top! Lol I gave up watching it. Couldn't understand how it was a role model for young women/girls? No matter if you have a PhD you still can't wear weather appropriate attire in a movie! Yes I know its fiction but seriously every female character had their cleavage on display while the men are all covered up. Even when you read a book and then they make a movie of it! In my head the female characters are usually wearing weather appropriate clothes, but when they make the movie they usually have scantily dressed women while the men are wearing fully protective gear!
Yes women can wear what they want but to pretend their is no pressure or cultural expectations of make up and skirts is nonsense. Look at any advert/movie/office! Just look on mumsnet about what shall I wear and discussions on make up etc
Personally think social media has made it so much worse. Even young boys are now hooked on wanting to look a certain way because that's all they see online, in movies etc it's not showing healthy people it's showing you need to look a certain way.

Nicolas cage and mick jagger are such random examples of men i love it😂

Yeah agree.

I am not sure when exactly female singers started performing in sparkly swimsuits but im over it

They do it to look attractive to men (and draw attention to themselves as they are celebs). Gay men also dress like that in places like Soho. Most women aren't attracted to the equivalent male look, so straight men tend not to dress that way.

The reason we look down on it is probably because our society holds straight maleness as worthy of most respect.

I broadly agree with the fact that male/female red carpet style is a frustrating sign of inequality but I'm finding the OP a bit disingenuous, lacking nuance and misogynist in terms of aiming her criticism at the female celebrities.

Mick Jagger is a funny choice of counter-example. The man who went on stage dressed like this? Nothing left to the imagination really. Google mick jagger shirtless stage and it seems he spent most of his stage time in his youth half-naked.

And male celebrities are increasingly also showing skin on red carpets. Here's Shawn Mendes wearing fewer clothes than his girlfriend (at the time? idk) Camila Cabello.

And here's a whole article on men wearing sheer shirts on red carpets. I believe Manu Rios once wore an entire sheer tux. Alexander Skarsgard is quite fond of revealing skin too. https://www.usmagazine.com/stylish/pictures/celebrity-men-who-rocked-sheer-shirts-on-the-red-carpet/

I'm also fairly sure I could find you hundreds of examples of female celebrities wearing non-revealing dresses on red carpets. Look up Teyana Taylor and Audrey Nuna at the Baftas for starters. But they don't tend to grab the headlines the following day and you're not talking about them

Despite that, yes, by and large female fashion tends to be more exposing than male fashion. Where you're being disingenuous is ascribing this solely to the male gaze and not acknowledging the role of the female gaze. Women are bigger consumers of celebrity and fashion culture than straight men, and female celebrities looking gaudy and eye-catching do so to appeal to female consumers as much as (if not more than) horny men.

And male celebrities also pander to the female gaze, or what's conventionally deemed to be what straight women want. The received wisdom is that women are "less visual" and would be actively turned off by a man going near-naked on the red carpet - but they swoon over a man who looks smart and suave in a tux. Male celebrities in suits are giving the consumer what they want just as much as female celebrities in skimpy dresses.

Personally I'm not convinced that women are inherently less visual, I think there's an element of social conditioning - or at least I very much appreciate a nice male body and would be very happy to see more of them on red carpets. But that's not mainstream opinion yet.

I think this is an interesting point, but a very hot potato at the same time.

I'm a lifelong feminist, but I think we as women have yet to really have the discussion....because it is such a hot potato! And so many things are factored in -

In the olden days we relied on men for food and survival, so the easiest way to compete for men was to be visually attractive. Now we still show our bits but we don't need to, and we call it 'choice/freedom.' But if men showed the same (obvious bollocks on show) we would be mortified and not know where to look.

As I age, my body is still lush because I keep it so, but I am very careful of how much I show and I do not want to make people uncomfortable. I do feel uncomfortable when I see skirts showing lower bum cheeks etc. Women do not deserve SA when they dress like that because it happens to babies in nappies so it is not what we wear, but at the same time, I would not like creepy men getting off on young women in revealing clothes after night clubs.

I think it is a discussion we really need to have, but then again I am older now and have had plenty of time to think through the consequences of actions.

Forgot to add - the Epsten files / the way Big Business has 'taught' us to think / buy what benefits them / line their pockets / follow trends that are stupid - to what extent are we sheep and doing ourselves down? But then again I am 51 now and not clear on whether young women shave their armpits / look like children to attract grown males etc. All I know is, a massive rethink of what and how I buy / where my attention / power goes is afoot for me....

This illustrates the contrast in expectations well I think!

Indeed. Same as prostitution which is also apparently “empowering”. So why don’t men do it?

I make the same point about female athletes too. They always seem to wear the skimpiest shorts imaginable and crop tops so they’re essentially wearing underwear. Men do not do the same thing, ever.

Yup.
If only men would strip off and oil up, they could rule the world.

Oh, wait...

I asked Rab C Nesbitt for his thoughts, I quote;
"See these celebrities? Paradeen' around in their designer rags, showin' off every inch of flesh? It's pathetic, so it is! Call that fashion? It’s just nakedness without the decency of a good, honest string vest! At least my string vest is functional, let’s the nipples breathe in the Govan rain. These posers are just lookin' for attention!"

She had her implants taken out in 1999. My point is that she used to go along with it (looking sexy) in fact used it to her advantage big time, but now she has made a choice to go totally against the expectations people have of her, and I really respect her for that. I bet there aren't any other actresses (or actors!) who look totally natural on the red carpet. And she's stopped showing loads of flesh. On Graham Norton she was covered up to her neck.

It’s not expected at all. They are all choosing to dress how they wish. Don’t like it? Don’t look 🤷‍♀️

He's not wrong! Always a great source of wisdom, is Rab.

They wear what they want to wear, and you wear what you want to wear. They decide what they want to "cover up" and you do the same. They choose their outfits and male celebs choose their outfits. See how it works?

When my dd was four the tv was on in the background and she suddenly turned to me and asked “Why do women on the tv wear hardly any clothes and men wear lots?”
Since then I can’t stop noticing it. I had never really thought about it objectively before.
I just said That’s a good question. It’s very silly isn’t it.
I couldn’t think of what else to say.

It really doesn't, she's wearing a perfectly modest outfit, nothing is on show.

Ed Sheeran is wearing a jumper - he is not expected to make any effort in his dress, just show up with his guitar and sing. Not the same for Taylor. I'm not saying she's inappropriately dressed. But she's not in jeans and a hoodie, is she?

I don't think it's empowering - I think it's going along with their industires and media expectations to garner attention to sell their careers or to sell product made.

The stylists and designers present them with choices - but what those choices are will be influenced by expectations - but they do have some choice.

I think recently though the red carpets have been very poor - more dresses wearing women and rapidly dimishing shock value than actually dressing some very beautiful women to look their best. A few celbs manage to have fun, be revealing to a point or not and look good.

I don't think the film or music industry are known for being great for giving equal opportunties to women so expect there are bigger battles to be fought and it's easier to go along with expectations to an extent.

But not in humans so what’s your point

Exactly.